Rare photographs of The Beatles at Weston-super-Mare fetch more than £10,000 at auction

A series of rare photographs of The Beatles taken before they became famous have been sold for more than £10,000 at auction.

The series of photographs were taken by Sandra Woodruff, who lives in Warmley in South Gloucestershire.

The piece that fetched the most was an autograph booked signed by the band members, which went for £4,100.

One bidder paid £3,900 for a photograph dubbed the underpant slip, while other photographs fetched varied amounts in the thousands of pounds, from £1,000 to £1,800 per set.

Sandra captured the band members on the beach and walking around the town.

She said: "I went down to Weston with a friend and we went onto the pier and asked some lads that were running the ghost train whether they knew where The Beatles were staying.

"They said they'd tell us if we bought them some fags so off we went and bought them 10 Woodbines each and they said, 'Yep, Royal Pier Hotel' and so off we went and there they were."

The iconic collection of photographs were taken during the band's six-day-tour in Weston-Super-Mare before the band became a global success.

"We would never have dreamt how famous they were going to become and to think that we just happened to be lucky enough to be there in the July, two or three months before you wouldn't have got anywhere near to them," she said.